Young children are most often transported by walking parents by means of a stroller in which the child is positioned in a sitting position and strapped into place to prevent the child from being dislodged. The stroller seat is normally large enough to support the child and to provide some means of padding and protection, be it pillows, blankets or the like. The child would be held in place normally by a strap across the waist or a combination of a waist strap and a strap between the child's legs.
Young children's feeding schedules often do not coincide with that of the parents, and thus parents frequently find themselves in a position where they must feed the child while they are away from the home and the child is positioned in the stroller. Many types of strollers provide for a feeding tray to be affixed thereto. Such feeding trays may, for example, be permanently affixed to the sidearms of the stroller and slidable relative thereto to facilitate the positioning of the child in the stroller and the removal of the child therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,912 to Dias is an example of a tray affixed to the sidearms of a stroller in a more or less permanent manner. Since the primary purpose of the tray is to accommodate feeding of the child while seated therein, it will be appreciated that the tray will usually not be needed between feedings. At these times, movements of the child's arms will be significantly constrained so that he or she may become somewhat uncomfortable. Moreover, covering or uncovering the child, or adding or removing clothing and the like is more difficult due to the presence of the tray. Accordingly, even where the tray is slidably positionable, there are situations where it can become a hindrance.
In an effort to overcome the aforementioned deficiency, detachable trays have been utilized in the prior art. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,276,792 to Peltier for an example of a stroller having a tray which is detachably securable to the stroller. While the Peltier tray is removable, there is no convenient position for storage or for carrying the tray. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,180 to Baer, there is disclosed a variation on a child's safety seat which is also adapted to function as a high chair and a stroller. Described therein is a tray of two-piece construction which is adapted to serve as a restraining arm rest and to receive the safety plate of the harness for car seat use. The respective tray sections are pivotably secured to respective bight portions and are adapted to swing outwardly thereon into a coplanar orientation for use.
Kohus, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,809, discloses a collapsible stroller which incorporates a storable tray so that the stroller can maintain its collapsibility. In Kohus, the tray is rotatable about one of the support arms and is frictionally engageable with the other support arm. Thus, when not required, the tray is swung into a parallel position with one of the support arms and the stroller can be easily collapsed. The Kohus tray has limited application to the collapsible stroller because of the frame configuration of the collapsible stroller and the manner in which the tray is rotatably secured thereto.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a light-weight tray which may be easily secured to any stroller having rails or other suitable support structure but which can also be readily removed therefrom and folded for compact storage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a foldable stroller tray which prevents the passage of liquids and other material therethrough while in use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a tray which is be frictionally engageable with the side rails of a stroller and adjustable to correspond with varying stroller seat widths.